Nintendo to revive Dreamcast classics for 3DS

Bizzaro virtual pet sim Seaman is to make a return on the 3DS, a Nintendo begins an unusual new campaign to increase the number of quality third party games on the console.

Seaman – coming on 3DS

We know what you’re thinking, but so far nobody has mentioned Shenmue. In fact this whole story is peculiar, having originated in a Japanese newspaper before being reported by website Andriasang.

Apparently the idea is that Nintendo will help revive other publisher’s titles on the 3DS, in order to ensure a steady supply of non-Nintendo games for the system. Seaman is the only example given so far, but there seems to be no indication that it will be limited to either Sega, Dreamcast games, or Japanese companies.Seaman was first released for the Dreamcast in 1999 and involved you looking after a tank of fish with human faces, inspired by scenes from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. The fish slowly evolved if you talked to them, via a microphone add-on, and in the Western version were narrated by Leonard ‘Mr Spock’ Nimoy.There was a Japanese-only sequel for the PlayStation 2 in 2007, involving miniature caveman, but it’s not clear whether the 3DS game would incorporate any elements from that.It’s also not known whether original creator Yoot Saito will be involved, but as he’s already working on 3DS game Guild 01 for Level-5, and has previously hinted at a 3D return for Seaman, so we’d imagine he’s probably a shoe-in.

The newspaper report all this comes from is a more general piece on Nintendo’s current status, as the 3DS becomes the fastest console ever to reach 5 million unit sales in Japan.In slightly related news Masahiro Sakurai has announced on Twitter that he has finally started work on the new Super Smash Bros. game intended jointly for the 3DS and Wii U. He’s always said he wouldn’t start real work on it until Kid Icarus: Uprising was finished, but now that’s due out on March 23 the time is finally here.A translation of his tweets by Andrisang doesn’t reveal anything of substance, but it seems a good guess that we’ll be hearing more about the game at E3 in June.